A state lawmaker from Boulder plans to bring forward a bill in the next legislative session that would allow universities to create their own gun policies.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will hold a forum this week with University of Colorado faculty members to discuss a legislative strategy that could give the regents the authority to ban guns on CU campuses.

The Colorado Supreme Court in March overturned CU's longstanding gun ban when it ruled the university cannot prohibit those with concealed-weapons permits from bringing their firearms on campus. Last week, the board voted to amend the university policy to comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

Faculty members at CU have expressed serious concern -- "collective dismay," according to one professor -- that concealed weapons are now allowed in classrooms.

Levy will meet with faculty members from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday in the Visual Arts Complex, 1B20.

"This is a meeting with faculty members who are concerned about the situation of being required to teach when one of their students may be carrying a concealed weapon," Levy said.

She said that while she can't write the rules for the university, she wants to restore the regents' power to set their own weapons policy. She said she plans to meet with officials at Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines, as well.

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Levy said universities are best fit to set their own gun policies.

"The Legislature doesn't have expertise on campus safety," she said.

But even if the bill passed, it's uncertain whether the CU Board of Regents -- which has been Republican-controlled in recent years -- would vote to reinstate a gun ban.

The upcoming general election will reshape the nine-member board, and Regent Tillie Bishop, a Grand Junction Republican, will no longer be serving. He cast the critical vote that the Democrats needed in June 2010 to continue a legal battle to keep guns off campuses.

CU appealed to the state's highest court in an effort to overturn a Colorado Court of Appeals decision that CU violated state law by banning concealed weapons.

Jim Geddes, R-Sedalia, said he wants to make sure guns aren't banned from CU.

"I firmly believe that the presence of responsible, trained concealed-carry citizens is a strong deterrent and a protective blanket for our citizens, and, in the case of the University of Colorado, our students," he said. "Therefore, I would vote in favor of continuing to allow legal, concealed carry of handguns on our university campuses."

Regent Michael Carrigan -- a Denver Democrat speaking for himself and not in his capacity as board chairman -- said he thinks the board should be able to set university policies.

"I would support any effort to give the board more authority to govern the campuses as we see fit," he said. "I think every higher-education board in the state should be able to make the decisions that are right for their campuses."

CU English professor Karen Jacobs organized the forum with Levy after what she describes as a "collective dismay" among faculty colleagues concerned about concealed-weapon permit holders being allowed to bring handguns onto the campus and into classrooms.

"We would like to see this law rescinded," she said.

Faculty members, she said, sympathize with the position CU administrators are in when it comes to complying with the law.

She said there has been a range of responses among faculty members to the new concealed-weapon policy on the campus, and some are outright terrified. Jacobs said she understands there are likely few guns on the campus but it's disruptive to the learning environment.

CU estimates that fewer than 1 percent of CU faculty members, staff members and students have concealed-weapon permits.

CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said university officials at this point have not considered Levy's plan for their lobbying agenda.

Levy has requested a meeting with all higher-education lobbyists this fall, according to McConnellogue.

Boulder city officials considered making Levy's bill one of the city's legislative priorities, but City Council members balked at getting in front of the issue when the university was not taking a public stand.

James Manley, the attorney who brought the original lawsuit against CU on behalf of a student gun-rights group, said it seems the faculty members on the Boulder campus have misconceptions about concealed weapons, and he suggested they consult with their colleagues at CSU, which has a long history of allowing guns.

"There seem to be a lot of emotions among the CU faculty," he said.

As for Levy's proposal, Manley said the Colorado House of Representatives unsuccessfully tried to pass a similar amendment to the state's Concealed Carry Act in 2003.

In March, Colorado's high court sided with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, the gun-rights group that filed the lawsuit against CU in 2008. University officials said then that the ruling undercut the regents' authority to govern safety on their campuses.

The CU Board of Regents banned weapons in 1970 and, in 1994, strengthened the policy requiring that students be expelled and employees be fired if found guilty of using a weapon to "intimidate, harass, injure or otherwise interfere with the learning and working environment of the university."

CU is not allowing guns at ticketed events, such as concerts or sporting events. Guns are also still banned from dorms, though a limited number of family housing standalone cottages and apartments are reserved for students with concealed-weapon permits. They must sign a contract that they will keep their guns in a locked cabinet when they leave their residences.

As of last week, CU's Boulder campus had received no requests from students to live in the residences where guns are allowed, said Bronson Hilliard, a spokesman for the campus.

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